My least favorite trope in action movies always involves a hero walking too close to an incapacitated enemy, looking down on them before we’re actually sure they are truly dead and dispatched. Chances are, the villain's eyes are going to fly open and our hero will get stabbed or something.
In a more abstract way, Christians can make the same mistake when they attempt to kill unhealthy habits. We cut out this or that and dust our hands off, feeling better about ourselves. But what if the habit wasn’t the problem in the first place, and we still have the heart issue despite our purge of, say, social media?
In reading “The Parable of the Radium Wristwatch” in the last issue, the above consideration struck me. Is social media truly a poison, like radium, that we can only escape by cutting it out completely? Is the threat posed by “the algorithm” worthy of deleting social media?
My response to this article is as follows: The question is not should we keep social media or delete it, but rather, are the things we don’t like about social media confined to it? It is a question of consistency and the heart of what sin and temptation truly are.
Sin is a matter of the heart—a choice that we make as a result of our brokenness. Temptations are external but cannot cause sin unless we give in (1 Corinthians 10:13). In his article, Sam Powell cites the algorithm as the core issue that makes social media bad, saying, “This is the terrifying and true purpose of the algorithm: ultimately, whoever controls the strings and dials of the algorithm is able to control the viewer’s desires, their sensibilities, and their loves.”
As mentioned above, while we can be influenced by temptation, our sin is our own choice. Algorithms themselves completely permeate our lives. We create a world that we like by choosing what we wear, eat, etc. We become friends by determining each other's likes and interests, altering our behaviors to be more palatable to others (and we choose friends based on them doing the same!). Thus, influence is inescapable and certainly not confined to social media.
In my opinion, the problems of social media are based more on what we as “users” bring to the table, not a computer keeping track of how long we look at a video. Self-control, narcissism, lust and envy are only a few of the vices exacerbated by social media, but what's the theme here? These are all problems that people have dealt with since the beginning of time. Social media in and of itself is a tool, like an empty book, that we give ear and pen to. Just as an author or reader can be sinful in their writing and reading, social media users can get into trouble. This indicates that the medium is not the main issue, but rather the user's engagement with it.
If the experience of social media is unhealthy, deleting it, taking a break, or getting some kind of accountability is honorable and good. But if that is your decision, there needs to be consistency in your other life choices. Rather than blaming social media toxicity on something external (the algorithm), it is better to search the heart for why exactly the experience was toxic, and then search for other areas in our life that it compares to.
Like the person who had demons cast out, only to have more return (Matthew 12:43-45), deleting social media without truly killing the heart issues associated invites inconsistency and lack of change. If you are a sinful person, you will still be sinful outside of social media. You will still be a consumer, influenced and tempted. In the words of William Shakespeare, “There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so.”